Bitcoin Tech Talk #361
Interesting Stuff
AI in Plain Language - This rather long article is probably the best explanation of how large language models work and how they were able to get the results that they did. What’s really surprising is that the models really aren’t that complex, but the results they’re able to get with it clearly are. From what I can gather from the article, the main restriction seems to be more data and more computing power, so that the vectors that represent the words we use and the operations performed on these vectors can scale up. What struck me is that this is probably one of many different applications of this general technique of using data and simple transformations trillions of times to get results. Language is just the first of many different applications, as we’re seeing with images, audio and even video.
Cable TV’s imminent death - Clay Travis writes about the current state of ESPN and how the business model around cable is quickly collapsing. His main focus is on what this means for sports fans (he thinks the cost to watch will go up) but the more society-shifting thing here is that the entire industry of cable TV is in trouble. Sports are currently the anchor for TV packages and in a sense, they’re Boomer tech. At the same time, streaming is not profitable for anyone except Netflix, so we’re due for another model altogether. Will this be the opportunity for V4V and micropayment based models?
Electrifying Everything - This article gets into the stupidity of the movement to ban natural gas by the current administration. This has shown up as subsidies for electric stoves instead of gas stoves, among other things. The key insight is that natural gas currently takes up a huge part of the electricity load so eliminating natural gas to the home just makes everything much less efficient. The hope is that solar, wind and battery technology can be developed to the point to make up the difference, but there’s no way since they’re all so unreliable and resource-intensive to set up. Centralized mandates like this are very much a fiat artifact, as these initiatives would not win in any sort of fair market.
What I'm up to
Crowdfund - Thank you so much for those that participated! I am overwhelmed by the support and am thrilled that so many of you wanted to get your hands on this book! $12,256 was raised and I’ll continue to write more and create more content for this community!
Family - I recorded another episode of Bitcoin Fixes This with Marty and Will about family, fatherhood and the right environment to raise our kids in this fiat-infested world. Take a listen to get some wisdom from these two dads!
TFTC - I was on Marty’s show to talk about my new book, and we discussed the fiat system and how it’s so incredibly corrupt. We talked about the transition to a Bitcoin standard and what we should be doing to prepare for that eventuality and how we need to get out of debt and focus on providing value.
RugPull Radio - I was also on RugPull Radio to talk about the fiat system and my experience as a developer and how the fiat system has become so corrupt. This was a different audience as they’re more of a political show than a Bitcoin show and it was fun to answer some more basic questions.
Life with Bitcoin - I talked with Vivian about fiat money, how Bitcoin adoption actually happens, rent-seeking and much more. She had very kind things to say about the book and I really appreciated the insightful questions she had.
TGFB at Pacific Bitcoin - I’ll be in Santa Monica, near LA to attend the Pacific Bitcoin conference and the side event for Thank God for Bitcoin. I missed the last TGFB event, so this will be an opportunity for me to see how much this group has grown. Please consider attending if you’re going to Pacific Bitcoin!
Nostr Note of the Week
What I’m Shilling
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